The present invention relates to data synchronization agents for use in computer systems.
Modern computer users often find that they are required to store copies of redundant data on multiple clients. For example, an operator may maintain personal scheduling information, contacts and lists of action items on both a desktop computer and a portable personal digital assistant. Moreover, operators may maintain such data on personal information managers (e.g., Microsoft's Outlook, Lotus Notes, among others) and also centralized enterprise resource planning applications such as SAP's R/3 application. To relieve operators from having to enter common data records multiple times for multiple applications (herein, “clients”), synchronization agents can be used.
Herein, a “synchronization agent” refers to a body of applications that synchronize data records among multiple clients. PalmSource, Inc.'s HotSync application and PumaTech Corporation's Intellisync suite of applications are examples of such synchronization agents. Known synchronization agents adequately synchronize data records among a pair of clients but they are unwieldy in many aspects. Known synchronization agents tend to provide a single synchronization solution for all users or to permit operators to specify different synchronization rules on a very coarse scale (e.g., calendar items synchronized in one fashion and contacts items specified in another fashion). They do not, however, permit operators to customize operation of the synchronization agent along parameters that are critical to the operators' use of the data records. For example, known synchronization agents do not permit operators to:                specify different synchronization rules based on client codes, contact names or company names;        restrict synchronization operations to single records, to records that meet a predetermined date restriction, or to tasks records that are open; and        resolve synchronization conflicts on a field-by-field basis and on a sweeping basis at the same time.Accordingly, the present inventors perceive these and other needs in the art.        